The Long Dark: An Alaskan Winter's Tale

Imagine a place where people know each other by the color of their parkas, where dogs are citizens, and where a handshake is as good as currency. Imagine a time when the wild went on forever, and the only link to the outside was a brave pilot with a shy smile. Imagine a world blanketed in snow and warmed by people.... Delightfully, that time is now, and that place is Alaska--but not just anywhere in Alaska. Here, the little towns are the last great secret of the Last Frontier; true Alaska living is found in small villages full of scruffy cabins and original characters. Author Slim Randles knew and loved one such town, presented here as the fictional Kahiltna. In this classic of Alaska fiction, the array of mushers and pilots, cheechakos and sourdoughs who call Kahiltna home are exuberantly true to life, as are their adventures, from the hilarious to the horrible. In the season of the long dark, it is the small town that lets Alaskans fend off the isolation and chill of winter near the top of the world.

About the Author :
Slim Randles considers himself an outdoorsman first and a writer second. His career spans more than three decades as a journalist, but is heavily dosed with life in the outdoors. He began his career as a cowboy and mule packer in the California High Sierra, then spent a decade in Alaska as a "resident adventurer," as he puts it, for the Anchorage Daily News. While writing columns for the paper, he built a cabin twelve miles from the nearest road and lived in it for eight years, drove a team in the first (1973) Iditarod sled dog race, and spent eight seasons as an assistant hunting guide in the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna Mountains, working primarily for the late Clark Engle and several other fair-chase guides. Randles has also been associate editor of Petersen's Hunting Magazine, author of hundreds of outdoor magazine articles, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, and a columnist for the Albuquerque Journal and New Mexico magazine. He is also a registered guide and outfitter in New Mexico, where he lives with his wife Jeannie, daughter Bridget, and what he says are "too many bluetick coonhounds" in the tiny village of San Ysidro.

Review :
"The Long Dark sits squarely in the classic Alaska tradition of sourdough literature, and reading it is a pleasant way to pass a winter night." --Sandra Boatwright, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner "Slim Randles can set one heck of a scene... He just sinks you in there, and hopes you'll be willing to swim. The receptive reader is very willing to follow his lead... A quiet undercurrent of humor keeps the reader contentedly turning pages, looking forward to the next clever plot development. He has a good hand with a yarn." --Ann Chandonnet, Juneau Empire ..".every person bitten with the 'Alaska' bug can send The Long Dark to family members in the lower 48 who cannot understand why people stay here... Suitable for all ages, it is a small book by an excellent story teller, well worth your time and money." --Jeanette Gaul, The Aleutian Eagle ""The Long Dark" sits squarely in the classic Alaska tradition of sourdough literature, and reading it is a pleasant way to pass a winter night." --Sandra Boatwright, "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner" "Slim Randles can set one heck of a scene... He just sinks you in there, and hopes you'll be willing to swim. The receptive reader is very willing to follow his lead... A quiet undercurrent of humor keeps the reader contentedly turning pages, looking forward to the next clever plot development. He has a good hand with a yarn." --Ann Chandonnet, "Juneau Empire" ..".every person bitten with the 'Alaska' bug can send "The Long Dark" to family members in the lower 48 who cannot understand why people stay here... Suitable for all ages, it is a small book by an excellent story teller, well worth your time and money." --Jeanette Gaul, "The Aleutian Eagle" ."..every person bitten with the 'Alaska' bug can send The Long Dark to family members in the lower 48 who cannot understand why people stay here... Suitable for all ages, it is a small book by an excellent story teller, well worth your time and money." --Jeanette Gaul, "The Aleutian Eagle" ""The Long Dark" sits squarely in the classic Alaska tradition of sourdough literature, and reading it is a pleasant way to pass a winter night." --Sandra Boatwright, "Fairbanks Daily News-Miner" "Slim Randles can set one heck of a scene He just sinks you in there, and hopes you'll be willing to swim. The receptive reader is very willing to follow his lead... A quiet undercurrent of humor keeps the reader contentedly turning pages, looking forward to the next clever plot development. He has a good hand with a yarn." --Ann Chandonnet, "Juneau Empire""